AssetID: 53572327
Headline: UNCAPTIONED: You're Having A Giraffe! Mum Orla Gives Birth To Calf At Chester Zoo
Caption: There’s new hope for one of the world’s rarest mammals as a Rothschild’s giraffe has been born at Chester Zoo. The leggy newcomer arrived into the world to new mum Orla with the joyous scene captured by the zoo’s CCTV cameras, at 11:30pm on Tuesday 12 March. Footage shows the calf falling from a height of six feet onto a bed of soft straw following a 472 day pregnancy and a labour lasting more than three hours. The youngster can then be seen stumbling to its feet and suckling from mum for the first time all within just 30 minutes of being born. Zookeepers are yet to determine if the two-day old is male or female and have said the calf already weighs more than 70kg and stands at 6 foot tall but will grow to be more than 18 foot tall and weigh 1,000kg - as the species is the world’s tallest mammal. With just 2,500 estimated to remain across the whole of Africa, and the last major stronghold now in Kenya and Uganda the species faces a high chance of becoming extinct in the future.
Keywords: Rothschild’s giraffe,Chester Zoo,new arrival,Orla,CCTV cameras,birth,six feet,soft straw,pregnancy,labour,suckling,male,female,70kg,6 foot tall,18 foot tall,1,000kg,tallest mammal,Rosie Owen,zookeeper,dramatic fashion,impact,breath,nurturing,unsteady,extinction,conservation breeding program,Africa,Uganda,poaching,habitat loss,vulnerable,International Union for the Conservation of Nature
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